Daniel José Montoya

My military career began in 2004. I joined the Air Force as a Cryptologic Linguist. I learned Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA and worked for several years with the 31st Intelligence Squadron at Fort Gordon, GA. Shortly after leaving active duty I attended film school and continued to work as a reservist with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron at March Air Reserve Base, CA. I would travel throughout the years with a team of photographers and videographers as we covered military exercises around the country and in Canada. I would often act as the team editor and I’d be responsible for making the final DVD video for the event organizers. Those years taught me what it’s like to work with clients and it often required us to work long hours as the deadline approached.

In 2015 we received bad news. Our squadron was being deactivated and I needed to find a new job. Around the same time I was contacted by a recruiter for a contractor position in Kabul, Afghanistan. With my commander’s approval, I was released from my service obligation and I flew to Afghanistan. I worked with a team of video editors, graphic designers, strategic planners and cultural advisors. We lived in an austere environment and often faced rocket and mortar attacks. Occasionally a car bomb would go off outside the wire and a couple times a building would be raided by Taliban forces, but despite all of the chaos I found the job to be quite rewarding.

Things changed after relocating to Bagram Air Base. I still put in an extra year but after some significant changes to the contract I decided it was time to come home. I had spent 4 1/2 years total in Afghanistan and it was a great opportunity to cross over into the contractor world. Even though I’m stateside I’m still open to the idea of providing support to our service members.

A Combat Camera team would usually comprise of several photographers and several videographers with an officer or senior NCO to lead. We would usually be tasked with covering a military exercise. The client or customer would be the event organizer and they would require imagery in order to brief government officials about the role their exercise plays in preparing military service members for deployment. This would help them secure funds to maintain or expand the exercise for future years.